| Amphibia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Some prehistorc amphibians | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Amphibia Gray, 1825 |
| clade: | Batrachomorpha |
| Subgroups | |
| |
Amphibia is a class of tetrapod vertebrates that can live in water and on land, and is considered one of the oldest tetrapod classes. The earliest forms date back to at least 350 million years (Carboniferous period), and lives to this day. Originally, ancestors were fish-like with fins that looked like legs. Eventually these fins turned into functional legs and they made the transition to land living animals.
During the Carboniferous and early Permian, many types of prehistoric amphibians flourished; these belonged to the two ancient, extinct, subclasses Labyrinthodontia and Lepospondyli. Modern amphibians (Subclass Lissamphibia) first evolved during the Triassic and Jurassic.